MONTREAL — On Sept. 10, municipal employees in a region between Montreal and Quebec City arrived at work to discover a threatening message on their computers notifying them they were locked out of all their files.

TORONTO — Canada's privacy commissioner is planning to issue guidance for buyers and sellers of legal cannabis amid ongoing concern about potential fallout, such as being barred from the United States, if transactions become known by third parties.

HALIFAX — With a federal election less than a year away, Canada's defence minister is warning voters they will be targeted by online cyber-attacks and fake news as Russia steps up its efforts to undermine western democracies.

PARIS — Fifty nations and over 150 tech companies pledged Monday to do more to fight criminal activity on the internet, including interference in elections and hate speech. But the United States, Russia and China are not among them.

TORONTO — After more than three years of legislative fine-tuning, Canadian businesses will be required as of Thursday to alert their customers and the federal privacy watchdog if there's a danger that personal information under an organization's control has fallen into the wrong hands.